People Like Interesting People

The general public has this misconception that people don't like nerds or eccentric people. People have this feeling that they aren't liked because they aren't cool enough or out there enough. It's totally not true. People don't like people that aren't interesting.  It's that simple. Who wants to be stuck in a conversation with someone that doesn't know how to have a conversation. Who wants to be bored out of their mind every time their conversation partner says something. The obvious answer is no one.  

The best way to improve in this area is perfecting the art of storytelling. Stories have been used by people for centuries to convey knowledge as well as entertain. Stories can convey drama, fear, comedy, and much more. I tried to sign up for a storytelling class when I was studying abroad at INSEAD but the class was too popular. Great storytelling involves so much more than just telling the story. You have to build suspense, emphasize certain words, make eye contact, and pull the crowd in. I know a great story from hearing good ones but I don't know all the mechanics of telling a great story. I'm still working on my own storytelling skills. I will research some more and write about it. 

Follow Up: Scent Bird

I received my first scent bird last week. I'm really liking it. Someone did point out that it's similar to a sample size that you can get from a department store. There is some truth to that statement. There is definitely more cologne in my scent bird pack than a sample pack of cologne. Also it is sent to my house which is a huge convenience. We will see how I feel about it as time goes. Also the Versace smells really good!

I Love the Cloud

I used to be a science teacher a few years ago, so clouds have a special place in my heart. I used to always wonder how such seemingly dense objects, especially since they produce rain, could remain in the sky. The even crazier trick is that some clouds seem to go as far as the eye can see. It's just like the other cloud - a listless number of servers that store and distribute data.

So I love all clouds! The greatest perk for me about the cloud is that I don't have to carry anything around. I love being able to just leave my laptop at work and access everything I need from my tablet at home. No bumping people with bags on the train, no lost laptop bags at dinner or parties, and no stress on my aging almost 30 year old back. It's freeing to be able to just walk around without worrying about a bag. Guess this is probably random or arbitrary to some people, but when I leave my bag and laptop sitting on my desk, I smile really big inside.

I can't wait for new keyboards and headset accessories that allow our phones to be our new computing devices. Imagine having a powerful computer in your pocket that uses a Google glass type of headset to visualize the screen and that projects a virtual keyboard right in front of you. We really aren't that far from really cool cross functional devices that all communicate with each other and give you a virtual experience that is seamless. 

Jack Dorsey and the Grown Man Beard

So don't judge me. On weekends I hop on my flywheel bike and watch Bloomberg TV. I also watch football too. Watching UM and Penn State play while I wait for the OSU and Mich State game. But the game is at halftime so I decided to watch Bloomberg Best. 

As I'm watching the show, none other than Jack D comes on discussing the recent square IPO. He is currently the CEO of Twitter and Square😳 . That's a blog in itself. Busy man! But I noticed that he is part of the grown man beard movement. It has taken over. No more of the clean shaven trend. I'm sad because I can only grow a mustache and hair on my chin. Shoot I'm almost 30....maybe it will happen when I'm 40. If not I'll just ask one of the design associates to photo shop one for me. 

2 Crowdfunding Events Later...

So the SEC is not making it easy for businesses to raise small amounts of money via the JOBS Act Title III ratification. The feels alone for trying to raise money 0-$100K are estimated to be at least 30K. I'm so confused. How can you build a supply side (businesses) of the market with all of these fees. The demand side (customers) won't have any good, quality deals to invest in.  

I also had a good conversation with a VC about the downsides of the new Title III changes. She expressed how she was worried that non-accredited investors would be duped into investing in companies that were passed over by VCs because they were weak investments. Since these customers can't do the thorough due diligence on companies, they can't unearth the less than flattering aspects of these businesses. For example, if a VC passes on a company for a $500K brigde investments because of bad financials, regular crowdfunding investors wouldn't necessarily know this. It's definitely a good point to ponder. 

Nonetheless, I'm still bullish on crowdfunding. It's growing too fast and there are so many applications that I'm a fan. 

Why hasn't Music Been Disrupted Yet?

I'm still confused why this hasn't happened more. And I'm confused how the music industry still has so much autonomy over this art form. It sounds like a consulting case. Look at the music value chain.  

1. Content creators are everywhere. There is an over abundance of content creators that are producing songs, beats, and videos. 

2. There are a TON of distribution channels to sell music. From getting actual CDs created to selling music online, there are several methods for talented artists to get their material out. 

3. There are a ton of channels to display their art form. Artists can use YouTube, VEVO, MySpace, Soundcloud and etc. to give their music to the world. 

So what's missing? There is a huge opportunity on the independent artist side that is not being addressed by the incumbent music companies, by Indy labels, or by large online distributors. Many VCs avoid this space but I think there is a huge opportunity here to defragment this market through innovation and technology. When it comes, I'll support it. There is too much talent that doesn't get viewed because of a few annoying gate keepers. 

Random Idea: Water Proof Shoes

It's 63 today. Yay! But it's supposed to rain all day. Boo! Whenever it rains woman all have the calf length, knee high rain boots on. Men have on their regular shoes. Even if you have water shoes they are super ugly. With all of the innovation in the world there aren't better, more fashionable rain shoes.

Imagine regular looking leather Sperrys that were water resistant. Also imagine a sock like lining that went halfway up your calf that was also water resistant and kept water out of your shoes and off your actual socks. Revolutionary product. This is your gem for today!

You can use this idea and expand the market in men's and women's shoes. Just let me have some product samples and a .1% equity consulting fee.

Sometimes Life is Serendipitous...When it Happens Excel.

So random day number 457 occurred today. I am a believer in Karma. Bad stuff comes back and bites you in the you know what. I am also a believer in serendipity. Sometimes you happen to be in the right place, at the right time, across from certain people where magic can happen. So back to my story.

Today we had a great dinner and drinks with a venture fund investor from Techstars. He came down from Idaho, met with all of our companies, led a speaker series, and then took all of the associates out to dinner to talk. He answered all of our questions regarding how he views investments, the VC space, our roles, and etc. It was a great conversation that ranged across several topics and included great chicken sliders! Towards the end of our conversation two guys beside our table asked, "What is Techstars?" and "What do we do?"

Maybe they were eavesdropping or just saw my Techstars t-shirt, nonetheless they started a conversation with us. They ended up being able to get some sage advice from a veteran in the VC space. These types of moments can't be staged, calculated, or prognosticated. It's serendipity at its finest. Sometimes you just happen to sit next to this venture capitalist that can potentially provide customer intros and funding for you.

Now the funniest part to this story is that this guy was SUPER drunk! He started off describing his business in a slur. Talk about good first impressions. He pulled it together a bit but continually apologized to us about his inebriated state. This was definitely a night to remember.

People Like Things that Matter to Them

Guess this is pretty obvi right. Everyone underestimates how simply playing to another person's needs is so key. People like doing things that make them feel good. Humans are innately selfish and like things that benefit them. Even when we do things for the benefit of others, it also benefits our own emotional needs. This is a human trait that we all need to keep in mind and use for the benefit of that individual and your self. Mutual wins are always key. If you know that a potential acquaintance loves charity work and you really want to connect with them, then volunteer at the event or help them get a celebrity guest. These goodwill points always make a colleague feel good and makes them want to also help you.

Engendering a good emotional feeling in someone can help you garner that first sale or help you get an introduction to a new mentor.  With gatekeepers (secretaries, executive assistants, associates) for example, recognizing the importance of their job and position and engendering feelings of importance in these individuals can help you get a meeting or talk with a key customer or influencer. Authentically providing a benefit to a peer can go a long.

In the end, everyone has something that motivates them, has something that makes them feel good, and has something that would benefit their life. Keep in mind that people remember what you did for them and how you made them feel. This can come in the form of nice compliments or nice gestures, but either way people love it. Life is a people game.

Disclaimer: Don't confuse the external/internal benefit that you provide people with manipulation.  You aren't lying or deceiving someone for the benefit of yourself. You are providing a win/win for everyone.

Growth = Power

I think founders and potential founders underestimate how powerful growth is. Growth is power in the startup world. Now getting that growth is another subject entirely. It depends on your market, on your product, and etc. BUT, in ANY market and for ANY product growth is still king. Why is growth so important? If you have great growth you set your own path. VCs are forced to accept your terms and acquiesce to your desires. Your business keeps gaining traction, you increase your influence in your industry, and you can organically grow your business. 

There are two types of growth that you can push in your company: 1. user growth 2. revenue growth. A wise VC (Matt Witheiler) said that you can't do both well, so choose one. With user growth you put all of your energy into gaining as many users as possible for your product. Particularly, you hope to have found your product-market fit as well as found your channel for organic user growth. These two attributes go hand-in-hand and can lead to rapid growth. As your product grows, hopefully several network effects help reinforce the competitive advantages of your business and you show that you can at least control a good portion of that market. Think SnapChat. When Facebook started Poke to supplant SnapChat, the company already had so much momentum and network effects in the space that Facebook couldn't catch them.  Then as SnapChat grew larger, they gained more and more power over their growth and VC term sheets.

Option two is revenue growth. Businesses are expensive to run and expensive to expand. Many scaling companies have a negative operating margin and some even have a negative gross margin (watch out for these companies). In the beginning, most tech companies aren't making enough sales to cover all of the bills. So if you are able to garner and increase sales rapidly from day one, you can start getting out of the red from the very beginning. These sales and eventual profits can then be used to grow your business organically. This financial leverage helps you have an immense amount of power, when it comes to taking on additional funds to grow your business even faster. Every VC loves a company with sound business fundamentals. A sound business model provides a set of data points that can help ensure an investor that they will receive that return on investment. Think of Microsoft. Bill Gates didn't become the richest man in the world by giving away all of his ownership to VCs. He had sound business economics. 

Many founders and founders to be, myself included, get caught in the feature trap. We build as many features as possible. Then we build more features. Then we build more features. Then, guess what? We build even more features. We spend so much time perfecting the product that we stop working on the number one metric, KPI, and driver of everything in a good business....growth. Alex (MD at Techstarts) has a great post about getting a meaningful Minimally VIable Product (MVP) developed. This is essential and I don't want to undermine this fact. Check it out in his blog, alexiskold.net. You definitely need a product that is "good enough" for the masses, but then start growing your business rapidly. As I stated in a previous post, start trying to get pre-sales or letters of intent (LOI) as soon as possible. Do anything to get growth. Then you can start making revenue from day one, not the end of year one and control your destiny!

With Love for France

It's impossible to write anything without acknowledging the savage, merciless acts of terrorism in Paris today. Disregard for life like this is something that everyone can relate to. There is no nationality to suffering and loss of life. There is so much healing that needs to happen in the world in order for us to move past this senseless violence and lack of love for human life.

From the shootings in Kenya to the kidnappings and rapes in Nigeria to the downed plane in Russia to now the massacre in Paris, there are so many groups trying to break our human spirits and our hope. The funny part abou  terrorism is that it has the opposite effect.

People rally behind those that are being victimized and marginalized and push love to them. People push prayer to them. Everyone puts positive thoughts and feelings towards those terrorized groups and remember that there is hope.

Why is Twitter so LAME?

The state of Twitter is sad. I'm not referring to the CEO leaving and now Twitter being stuck with a part time CEO. I'm not talking about the lack luster financial performance of the company . I'm only referring to how it has become the epitome of anti-cool. It's so sterile.

Now maybe this is the lifecycle of popular social media networks.  If it is too open, then people sensor their responses. Post 2009 to 2010 Twitter newcomers have made Twitter a place for broadcasting news or random crazy events.  Or people upload very generic, stale messages. I remember when I first joined Twitter. It was the hottest thing since bbm.

Twitter used to be the place to have authentic conversations with friends, debate topics with associates, and get closer to people you didn't even know. Twitter used to be a place where you felt like you were having a giant group conversation. You would literally reconnect with old friends through a retweet of a retweet and meet new people through hashtags.

New Twitter is boring. I want old Twitter back.

The Average Person Can't Just Build a Startup

Can anyone really be a tech entrepreneur? Entrepreneurs are plagued with several problems at the inception of their startup. Issue one is cash. Do you have the money to finance your business. Issue two is skill. Do you have the coding abilities to create the tech yourself. The answer to these questions for most people are no and definitely no. So what does this mean for people trying to break into the tech revolution?

You can't without a ton of luck and help!

The average person doesn't have the network or financial means to raise even the initial funding for a company. Unless you happen to win a business plan competition or a pitch event, it is hard to get the $10K-$50K to start your business. On the other side of the equation is the coding ability. Most people can't code and don't know someone who does. I hear time and time again from friends and peers that they are looking for an engineer. I tell them that they and every startup, big tech company, and major corporation is too. And if you can't find a tech cofounder then you are at the mercy of hourly developers (who aren't cheap) to create your product. No bueno.

Now that I have put all of the bad news out there. What is the good news? At least you know. Now you can mitigate each of these issues without rose colored glasses. It's not easy to create a new startup that effectively tackles a major issue. There is major competition in every industry and sub sector. My tip for people that can't find time to learn to code is to find paying customers before they start. An interesting tip that Wiley from First Round capital provided was to meet with different potential clients months before you even create your product and get pre-sales or at least commitments. This could be going door to door and business to business. Or creating a Kickstarter campaign and raising funds.  Prove there is a market for your product and money and talent will find you.

Are Apps Dead?

My engineering days definitely familiarized me with the term noise. Random, chaotic data that cloaks any desirable output or recognizable patten. There is a TON of noise in the app ecosystem. So a while ago, I asked myself if apps are dead. Are apps that aren't pushed by major powerhouse companies, don't receive large scale media from tech influencers, and aren't featured by the App Store doomed to relish in app purgatory? Are they stuck in a infinite loop that has no end?

The crazy part is that the answer seems to be yes. People are just tired of new apps. They don't want to download them. They don't want to learn to use them. They are happy with their current 40 apps (they probably only use maybe 5-10 daily). It's a simple supply and demand problem. There is too much supply and not enough demand. Thus the desire and need to find new apps is lower. And apple isn't reducing search frictions for finding obscure apps, so it won't ostensibly get any easier.  So what to do?

I don't know. Currently, I have been thinking about this since some of our current companies are mobile only and because I have tried to create my own app (sad story for another day). These tips are based on having a functional product with product-market fit. You need to break the rules. Create a hack that pushes it to tons of people. Anonymously email "acquired" email lists. Do whatever is necessary to market you app. People have to know about it and find it. If they don't....you lose. You could try buying Google and Facebook ads, but with all of the click bots and costs of clicks, you will go broke. It's easier to become friends with Apple and get featured. This is no easy task. This is where you leverage your personal network and PR to get into the right doors. If you don't...you lose. Highly incentivize your user base to share your app. This is where social apps are better because they innately incentivize us to get your friends to use it with you. This must happen. Seth Godin talks about normal distribution curves. You need to get your product from being used just by nerds (fashion nerds, music nerds, nerd nerds) aka enthusiasts by making the other 80% want to aspire to be like the early adopters. If you don't do this...you lose. Get back to grassroots, guerilla marketing. Knock on doors, give out fliers, hang up posters. You need a cheap, "in your face method" to get customers. Online channels are noisy. If you don't do this...you lose. Lastly have a app that can be quickly learned and used by the masses. People want to hear about something cool and then easily be able to use it. Otherwise, as you already know...you lose.

I'll have to flush out this mental dump more. I'm no expert but these are some tactics that I've seen or heard work. It's like dating in NYC, you better stand out. Maybe this will help me in the future with my own company.

One of the Best Sound Tracks Ever

Star Wars has one of theeee best soundtracks that I have ever heard. I love movies. If I wasn't in tech, I'd probably try to work on movie productions. The correct music is essential for a great movie. The Star Wars has the right mix of different sounds to engender excitement, hope, passion, awe, and so much more. Imagine if life was full of soundtracks, it'd make everything that much more exciting. Blog XVII

Equity Crowdfunding: No More Penny Stocks

About two weeks ago, the SEC approved Title III of the JOBS Act. Title III allows for non-accredited investors to participate in equity crowdfunding.

The first question is "What is Crowdfunding?" It is the exchange of equity, gifts, or pre-sales for a small financial investment from a lot of people. For example, Kickstarter allows people who have a product or startup idea to raise money in exchange for pre-sales or other gifts.

What are the implications of this change? Initially only accredited investors could crowdfund for equity (ownership) in a company. Accredited investors are individuals with a net worth of $1MM excluding the value of their home or individuals that make over $200K a year. Now, any individual with any income can invest in companies for equity. Now, the average American can be an angel investor.

It's a very interesting, exciting, and worrisome concept all in one.

It's great because now startups can raise funds easily amongst a diversified list of investors. This opens up opportunities for all people in all walks of life to raise money for their startup. They can invite their friends and family to invest small amounts into their entrepreneurial dreams and then provide equity to those stakeholders. Also now any person can make investments in lucrative startups on crowdfunding platforms, not just the top 5% of Americans.

BUT I still have a ton of questions and worries about this. If you are a startup, what paperwork must you now fill out in order to complete a   angel round? Do you end up with a cap table of 150 people for a small $20K raise. Do you have to distribute paperwork, updates, and approvals to all these people? If you crowdfund online, who is tracking whether investors are spending the correct amount of their yearly salary on investments. It's not in effect until 2016, so I will post again about this topic. Blog XVI

Vestiges of 3 Years of Latin

Some of you may have noticed that I enumerate each blog that I write. I started off with saying blog 1, blog 2, and etc. I switched to having Roman numerals. So now my blog says Blog X, Blog XI, and etc. Why did I change it up. Well one reason is because I always thought Roman numerals looked cool. Reason two, which is the more pertinent reason, is that I was forced to take Latin for 3 years in high school.

I attended a 7-12 high school in Cincinnati called Walnut Hills. It was then and still is the number 1 public high school in Ohio (I'm going to write another blog that delves into this further and explains why I joined TFA). Our motto was sursum ad summum - achieve to the highest. Every student that enrolled, after you passed the entrance test, was required to take Latin for a minimum of three years. You could take up to 6 years of Latin with our different Latin AP courses. I still think about my times there and how blessed I was to get in and get a great education there. I don't miss the years where I had to study a dead language that only our 70 year old teacher could speak. Random fact about me. Blog XV

The Art of Giving AND Taking

Adam Grant is a New York Times best seller, the youngest tenured Wharton professor, and also my former teacher. He taught my management 610 class. One thing he espoused all the time was giving. But in that same breath, he preached taking as well. Check out his book, Give and Take, if you have a chance. It's a very good book.

I personally used to only be on the give side. I was always trying to connect people with jobs or people. I was always trying to give friends and family advice. I was always giving, giving, giving. Then after some deep thought and reading a couple of interesting books I realized that I also have to take. 

Generally, people think of taking as a selfish act where you want to take all of the pie. This is farther from the truth. My mom always said to share with others, which also means they need to share with you. Don't be afraid to ask for an intro or to ask for help with a sale. Mutually beneficial relationships aren't about keeping score. They are about making sure everyone you know is successful. This pie only gets bigger as well collaborate and use our various networks to help each other. Blog XIV.

Fundraising is Just Like Dating...Get to a Fast No.

Being an associate at Techstars has tons of perks, one of which is being able to hear from super cool, accomplished entrepreneurs. Today's talk was about fundraising. The best quote of the night was "Get to a no as fast as possible". Once the presenter said this my mind started racing because this applies to so many aspects of people's lives. It can relate to enterprise sales or high stakes negotiations or to dating. 

I've only been in NYC for four months but one thing that I have continually heard from female friends, associates, and even strangers is how hard it is to date in NYC. My girlfriend said she has heard it time and time again as well. Guess what? You also hear this same problem in fundraising.  There is a supply and demand mismatch. Too many companies and not enough angels and VCs. Just like there are too many woman and not enough quality guys.   

This is a fundamental economics problems. Demand is high. Supply is low. Given this setup things become a lot more difficult and expensive. So you have to change the game. Get to that no as quickly as possible. Don't let an investor drag out the process too long otherwise you lose tons of time that could have been dedicated to a quality partner. This opens up space for people that are going to help you prosper instead of stifle your growth and fundraising process. 

Also remember that a "no" is okay. Sometimes you and an investor don't match well or fit together. That's perfectly fine and normal. It doesn't reflect on you personally or your business. Yoy may not work together now but there is always a chance that you will work together in the future. (So don't burn that bridge-topic for another post). Blog XIII

Why Are There So Many Messaging Apps

             I need consolidation  

Can I please get a break. These are 6 of the message apps that I use constantly. Then there are several that I was forced to download when I was in Southeast Asia. I hope I'm not the only one that thinks it's a bit overkill.  I wish there was an app that consolidated all of my messages into one easily digestible platform.  

Then I have EVEN more me messaging capabilities in each of my social networks. I die a bit everyday from my hundreds of vibrations and notifications. At least there are apps that allow me to post messages to all of my followers on my different accounts at the same time. That's one small win. It's just so hard these days to have authentic social media accounts with all of this messaging optionality. But I probably won't stop posting on them all so I will just have to suck it up. 

I at least wish there was one chat platform that all apps used that could easily port contacts across my phone books, apps, and etc. Maybe it's already out there? But that would reduce a large friction point for me and plenty of other people I'm sure. Blog XII.